Israel-Hamas Flash Report 27NOV23 18:15 PST - Cease-Fire Extended for 48 Hours (Patreon)

I have been holding back on publishing the summary because there is a lot of fog of war today. Here is the important thing: both combatants complied with the terms of the cease-fire today.

Another 11 Israeli hostages, nine children and two adults, were released by Hamas to the International Committee of the Red Cross. Today's hostage release did not include 10-month-old Kfir Bibas, as the public hoped. Bibas was not on the list submitted to the Israeli government for Monday's hostages for prisoner exchange, and nine child hostages remain with Hamas and aligned militant and terrorist organizations operating in the Gaza Strip.

Another 33 Palestinian prisoners, three women, and 30 teenagers were released in the West Bank city of Ramallah.

As part of the continuing cease-fire agreement, Hamas has submitted the list of ten more names of hostages to be released on Tuesday. In exchange, Israel has provided Hamas with a list of 50 female prisoners that would be released over the next 48 hours. Israel had previously approved a list of 300 Palestinian detainees that could be exchanged.

The Foreign Ministry of Qatar spokesman Majed Al-Ansari, wrote on Twitter, also known as X,  that both combatants had reached a deal to extend the pause for an additional two days.

The truce was being extended “in order to deliver additional aid into the Strip, and release the largest possible number of hostages and prisoners,” the ministry said.

The Times of Israel is reporting that future releases must be Israeli nationals. We cannot reconcile why the dual Russian-Israeli citizen released on Sunday does not count toward the 50 hostages released over the last four days, while the 11 hostages released today, dual citizens of Argentina, Germany, and France, did. Israel initially reported that the release of the one Russian national was outside of their negotiations and done at the behest of Russian President Vladimir Putin negotiating with Hamas. Today, Qatari officials included the dual Russian-Israeli as one of the people released through their negotiating efforts.

Egypt reported that six more Thai nationals were also to be released today, but there were no reports as Tuesday arrived in Israel, confirming their freedom.

The United States and Israel repeated their claims that the cease-fire included an agreement that all hostages would be visited by representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), which the Red Cross will neither confirm nor deny. The organization repeated earlier statements that it would visit the hostages "if both parties agree." The full language of the cease-fire agreement was never made public, so the specific details are unknown. 

The UN reported they could not confirm the number of trucks that entered the Gaza Strip through Rafah on November 27, with the Associated Press reporting "around 200." Four trucks carrying fuel and another four carrying cooking gas were part of the relief aid delivered today. The UN made a similar report on November 26, but we were able to independently verify that 200 trucks crossed the border. We are unsure why the UN is no longer reporting the number of trucks to pass through Rafah, and the number of trucks unloaded within the Gaza Strip.

The Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) accused the IDF of killing one and wounding another at the Al-Maghazi Refugee Camp in the Gaza Strip. There were no corroborating reports from any other source. Earlier claims of cease-fire violations made by Hamas and Israeli were unfounded, or in the case of a small rocket attack shortly after the cease-fire started on November 24, unconnected to Hamas.

After a lull in settler violence in the West Bank, there were reports of vandalism at two farms, one on November 25 and the second on November 26.

Human Rights Watch released a report about the Al-Ahli Hospital explosion on October 17, which aligned with our conclusions on October 19 and 21 that the explosion was likely caused by a misfired rocket launched by Hamas or an aligned militia. The report went further in its conclusion, suggesting that the individuals who ordered the rockets fired toward Israel on October 17 may have committed a war crime. In full transparency, we have criticized earlier findings by HRW and their near silence on the Russia-Ukraine War after a very controversial report was released in August 2022.

After accusations of anti-semitism, billionaire Elon Musk visited Israel and toured several settlements that Hamas attacked on October 7 with Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu. It was reported that an agreement had been reached to provide "authorized relief organizations" with Starlink access in the Gaza Strip.

As long as the cease-fire holds, there will be no reason to create a full SITREP for the Israel-Hamas War.